Parameter identification for a suction‐dependent plasticity model

In this paper, the deterministic parameter identification procedure proposed in a companion paper is applied to suction‐dependent elasto‐plasticity problems. A mathematical model for such type of problems is firstly presented, then it is applied to the parameter identification using laboratory data. The identification procedure is applied in a second example to exploitation of a gas reservoir. The effects of the extraction of underground fluids appear during and after quite long periods of time and strongly condition the decision to profit or not of the natural resources. Identification procedures can be very useful tools for reliable long‐term predictions. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Episodes of volcanic activity and their environmental effects in the Okinawa Trough during the last 150 ka

1 INTRODUCTIONA large-scale volcanic eruption can injectenormous amount of ash and dust into the atmos-phere, leading to local and short cooling due toshielding incoming radiation. During the past 2 to 3decades, accumulated evidence indicated thatlarge-scale volcano eruptions or series of volcanicactivity appears to coincide with climatologicaltransitions. For example, Robock (1979) indicatedthat volcanic eruptions played a role in forcing "Lit-tle Ice Age". Well-dated high-resolution co…     

Boundary-Layer Turbulence Over The Nebraska Sandhills

Data from National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Queen Air boundary-layer flights over the Nebraska Sandhills are analyzed to investigate the effects of these low hills on boundary-layer turbulence. The Sandhills are an area of anisotropic rolling terrain with characteristic wavelengths of order 2km and rms height variations of order 25m. The biggest impact is found in early morning flight data where horizontal velocity perturbations appear at the same wavelengths as the terrain and variances (normalised by u ² , where u is the local friction velocity) are significantly enhanced relative to standard flat terrain values. By contrast the vertical velocity variance seems less affected and terrain effects are much less evident in data from the afternoon convective boundary layer.     

A site effect study in the Verchiano valley during the 1997 Umbria-Marche (Central Italy) earthquakes

Strong site effects were observed during the two M _W 5.7 and M _W 6.0 main shocks of the Colfiorito seismic crisis which occured on September 26, 1997 in Umbria-Marche (Central Italy).The most obvious indications of these effects are the dramatic differences in damage shown by buildings of similar construction in neighboring villages.Such observations were specifically made in the Verchiano valley in the fault area, 15 km south of Colfiorito where the Verchiano village and the Colle and Camino hamlets were heavily damaged (MCS intensity IX-X) since the first main shock of 1997/09/26,while in contrast, the Curasci village located 2 km eastwards remains almost intact.In order to study the anomalous ground motion amplifications in this area, an array of 11, 3-components seismo- and accelero-meters was set up during the 1997/10/20-24 period, extending from the western side of the valley, up to the top of Mount San Salvatore, going accross the Colle and Curasci hamlets.During the experiment, 67 aftershocks enlightened the valley from the Colfiorito (10 km north) and the Sellano (6 km south) active swarms.Seismic refraction experiments were conducted at the same time in the 500 m wide, 1500 m long Verchiano valley in order to determine the thickness and main characteristics of the alluvial infilling.The main results are: (i) compared to the valley side ground motion, and for all the events, recordings in the central part of the valley (piana di Verchiano) show relative amplification of 10 with a clear lengthening of the seismogram duration by a factor of 2 – (ii) broad band relative amplification of 6–8 is also clearly identified at the top of the Mount San Salvatore overhanging the valley – (iii) any of the site effect measurements done explains by itself the strongly contrasted damage observed at Colle and Curasci: i.e. the modification of the near-field radiation pattern by interaction with the free heterogeneous surface may have induced local shadow zones that saved Curasci.     

土壤地球化学测量在三道湾子金矿床的应用

三道湾子金矿位于大兴安岭燕山期成矿带东南部, 是近年来新发现的典型的石英脉型金矿床。通过在该矿床土壤中进行的金元素富集层位及粒度试验, 确定B2层为土壤测量的取样层位和-40目为样品加工粒级, 圈定Au、Ag、As、Sb异常多处, 各元素异常浓集中心与已知金矿体吻合较好。经过对异常验证, 发现了新矿体, 扩大了矿床规模, 土壤测量在该区找矿效果显著。     

GCM STUDIES ON ANTHROPOGENIC CLIMATE CHANGE IN CHINA*

Impacts of human activities on climate change as simulated by the general circulation models (GCMs)in China for the recent ten years have been summarized and reviewed in this paper.The researches show that it might be getting warmer over China due to the greenhouse effects.The atmospheric circulation and precipitation also might be changed due to the greenhouse effects.The assessments and evaluations of the models over the globe and China have also been presented in this paper.     

Dynamics of the Subsurface Temperature Field Caused by Mining-Related Groundwater Management

The subsurface temperature field was studied on a set of 46 borehole logs measured in the vicinity of uranium deposits in the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin. Vertical variations of the steady state temperature and the temperature gradient are governed by thermal conductivity which strongly varies in dependence on lithology. Large departures from undisturbed temperature detected in many holes are associated with uranium mining. A positive anomaly is observed in leaching fields where large amounts of acid are injected into the uranium-bearing Cenomanian. A negative anomaly is linked to the operation of hydraulic barriers which enclose the mining area and helps to contain pollution by pumping clean water into the Cenomanian aquifer. The spatial distribution of the observed temperature anomalies helps to map the migration of the fluids used in both processes. The temperature disturbance is propagated from the Cenomanian aquifer up through overlying impermeable sediments. The good fit of transient conductive models to the measured temperatures rules out heat advection and hence upward water flow towards and contamination of the upper Middle Turonian aquifer in the vicinity of the holes studied.     

Calibration of stochastic finite-fault ground motion simulations for the 1997 Umbria-Marche, Central Italy, earthquake sequence

The recent 1997 Umbria-Marche, Central Italy, earthquake sequence allowed us to model recorded ground motions using a method developed by Beresnev and Atkinson [Bull Seism Soc Am 87 (1997) 67–84; Seism Res Lett, 69 (1998) 27–32; Bull Seism Soc Am 88 (1998) 1392–1401]. The method generalizes the stochastic ground-motion simulation technique, developed for point sources, to the case of finite faults. It subdivides the fault plane into subfaults and assumes each subfault to be a point source with a ω² spectrum. Geometric spreading and regional anelastic attenuation are included in the model. The data include horizontal acceleration recordings from the SSN and ENEL databases of the 1997 Umbria-Marche events on 26 September, at 00:33 GMT, with M_w=5.7, and at 09:40 GMT, with M_w=6.0; and on 14 October at 15:23 GMT, with M_w=5.6. The strong motion simulations are performed using model parameters based on the results of previous studies, and adjusting the subfault size to calibrate the simulation model against recorded ground motions. Local site response is considered to account for observed amplification effects at specific recording sites (e.g. Nocera Umbra). A good agreement is found between the simulated response spectra and the recorded data, concluding that this method reproduces the salient ground-motion characteristics at different distances and azimuths.     

Numerical analysis of seismic wave amplification in Nice (France) and comparisons with experiments

The analysis of site effects is very important since the amplification of seismic motion in some specific areas can be very strong. In this paper, the site considered is located in the centre of Nice on the French Riviera. Site effects are investigated considering a numerical approach (Boundary Element Method) and are compared with experimental results. The experimental results are obtained thanks to real earthquakes (weak motion) and microtremor measurements. The investigation of seismic site effects through numerical approaches is interesting because it shows the dependency of the amplification level on such parameters as wave velocity in surface soil layers, velocity contrast with deep layers, seismic wave type, incidence and damping.In this specific area of Nice, experimental measurements obtained for weak motion lead to strong site effects. A one-dimensional (1D) analytical analysis of amplification does not give a satisfactory estimation of the maximum reached levels. A boundary element model is then proposed considering different wave types (SH, P, SV) as the seismic loading. The alluvial basin is successively assumed as an isotropic linear elastic medium and an isotropic linear viscoelastic solid with Zener type behaviour (standard solid). The influence of frequency and incidence is analysed. The thickness of the surface layer, its mechanical properties, its general shape as well as the seismic wave type involved have a great influence on the maximum amplification and the frequency for which it occurs. For real earthquakes, the numerical results are in very good agreement with experimental measurements for each motion component. The boundary element method leads to amplification values very close to the actual ones and much larger than those obtained in the 1D case. Two-dimensional basin effects are then very strong and are well reproduced numerically.